Inspirations: Trend #2: Dark Moods

And the trend continues... trend #2 - I promised you Midnight...and this is my next trend for 2010.

Second to None - Motif - "vamp" Bride, Gothic, Dark Mood

Maybe it's because I'm a Twilight fan. Or that I secretly hid my fascination for Bella and Edward. Perhaps it's the recession. Or maybe MJ's Thriller has been playing in my car for months. But I'm feeling Dark, Moody, Gothic, Vamp, and Mysterious.

Nope ----- it's probably because it's Halloween. So my moody, strange side is coming out.

But nevertheless, whatever the motivation, inspiration or impulse, I'm feeling that a softer "vintage, vamp, Goth" motif could well be in. Whether you call it Vintage Gothic, Dark Victorian, Dramatic Vamp or Midnight Garden. Whatever you want to call it, I see this dark mood strangely appealing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you should order a vampire cake, have a black widow spider candy favors or send out "Team Edward" invites(rather interesting, don't you think?). No No No. I still think you can do it in a elegant way.

Use the inspiration in your color palette. Add vintage looking frame borders in your invites. Wear a vintage black cap. How about a black and white bouquet. It can still have an elegant appeal. Why not think black chandelier? Dark midnight paper invites with white writing. Mysterious dark lips. Pale foundation. A dark crow or black birds as a motif? I think there's something rather sexy and dramatic

Here's a great inspiration board of dark mysterious from Snippet and Ink which embodies this dark mood!



Top image from Coco + Kelly Blog

W. I. L. L. #5: Perks

Of course, having your own business has perks. It's no secret, when your clients are happy and they tell you. It gives you a sense of accomplishment. It inspires and motivates. It affirms why you do what you do. It's a great feeling. But....when you get a thank you note, it's even a bigger gift. A phone call the day after a wedding can make my week! And when your clients go the extra mile for you and write a review, well, that's the icing on the cake.

Then there's being spoiled.

And I got the royal treatment this Sunday. My client from 2008, Mandy T. treated me to a mani/pedi at Silks in SF. Mandy got married in the summer of 2008 and she's still spoiling me!!!! She has thanked me beyond what's normal. Treated my entire staff to Sibby's cupcakes and just the other day, I'm still getting wonderful gifts from her. The mani/pedi at Silks was wonderful. We sat at the upper room in big leather chairs. A hot bath was ready for my toes which included some herbs that I could not identify(I was too busy sipping my mini Diet Coke and chatting it up with Mandy). Two attendents waited on me (literally --- hand and foot!). There was the usual scrub, trimming, and cutting of cuticles but it was the warm foot massage with hot cream that got my attention. Following the massage, "hot" towels were wrapped around my legs. The same treatment for the hands but no massage was equally as nice. Just heavenly.

Bottom Line: If you don't think that a vendor gets tired of a verbal "thank you", you are wrong. A thank you goes a long long way. If a service provider went beyond, write a great review. And small gestures aren't easily forgotten!!!

Thank you to all my clients who spoil me! Thank you for making 2009 fabulous!

Real Weddings: Wedding of the Year #5

This was indeed one of the more memorable weddings of 2009. I love love love doing modern classic weddings and I love very sleek and uber chic venues. And sleek to some might be boring but for me, if done well in the right venue( and the St. Regis is such that venue ), it's very polished.

If anyone knows how I live, they would know that my personal design style is very minimal, sleek, contemporary, totally Design within Reach, so I love it when I get to do simple yet meaning designs. This "Orchid, Bamboo, & Stone" motif wedding for Cheralin and James this past June was a wonderful experience and I hope you enjoy the images.

Kirsty Edwards the gift photographer for this wedding did these amazing boards. She is also incredibly nice. You can see even more images on her blog at Shoot Retouch.

Enjoy!

Color of the Month: Forever Blues

When it comes to working with a floral designer and event stylist for your wedding, often one of the first questions asked is this, "what colors are you doing for your wedding?". Next to "how many bridesmaid's are you having?", "where is your reception?", "where are you going on your honeymoon?", I think that is one of the most frequently asked question.

Everyone just wants to know, right?

And creative vendors like event planners, event designers, lighting designers, rental and prop specialists, stationary designers, and of course, your florist(and f.d) all want to know - what color is your wedding so they can help you select linens, up lights, flowers, and ink colors...and a lot more.

How do you choose? And more important how do you describe your color.

For my new Color of the Month post, I thought I would try to find as many "descriptions" for the various colors of blues out there. Hopefully when you talk to your creative vendors you can describe what blue is the blue you are looking for because we all know there is a huge difference between "royal" blue and "midnight blue"...right?.

I've also attached a few and hopefully interesting inspiration boards that incorporates blue.

Once again my gratitude to Style Me Pretty for this wonderful tool. Abby, you rock!

Thanks to a yahoo search, I found this wonderful list that includes just about every blue imaginable along with the RGB and Hex info.

Azure Mist (web color "Azure") (Hex: #F0FFFF) (RGB: 240, 255, 255)
Alice Blue (web color) (Hex: #F0F8FF) (RGB: 240, 248, 255)
Baby Blue (Hex: #E0FFFF) (RGB: 111, 255, 255)
Lavender Mist (web color Lavender) (Hex: #E6E6FA) (RGB: 230, 230, 250)
Periwinkle (Lavender Blue) (Pastel Indigo) (Hex: #CCCCFF) (RGB: 204, 204, 255)
Powder Blue (web color) (Hex: #B0E0E6) (RGB: 176, 224, 230)
Light Blue (Hex: #ADD8E6) (RGB: 173, 216, 230)
Ultra Blue (Blizzard Blue) (Crayola) (Hex: A3E3ED) (RGB: 163, 227, 237)
Light Cornflower Blue (Crayola Cornflower) (Hex: #93CCEA) (RGB: 147, 204, 234)
Light Sky Blue (web color) (Hex: #87CEFA) (RGB: 135, 296, 250)
Sky Blue (web color) (Hex: #87CEEB) (RGB: 135, 206, 235)
Medium Sky Blue (Crayola Sky Blue) (Hex: #76D7EA) (RGB: 118, 215, 234)
Aquamarine Blue (Crayola Aquamarine) (Hex: #71D9E2) (RGB: 113, 217, 226)
Aquamarine (Hex: #7FFFD4) (RGB: 127, 255, 212)
Cyan (web color Aqua) (Electric Cyan) (Electrical Blue) (Hex: #00FFFF) (RGB: 0, 255, 255)
Bright Turquoise (Hex: #08E8DE) (RGB: 8, 232, 222)
Turquoise (web color) (Hex: #30D5C8) (RGB: 48, 213, 200)
Process Cyan (Pigment Cyan) (Printer's Cyan) (Hex: #00B7EB) (RGB: 0, 180, 247)
Turquoise Blue (web color Deep Sky Blue) (Hex: #00BFFF) (RGB: 0, 191, 255)
Ukrainian Azure (color of Ukrainian Flag) (Hex: #42ADDE) (RGB: 66, 173, 222)
United Nations Azure (Hex: #5B92E5) (RGB: 91, 146, 229)
Cornflower Blue (web color) (Hex: #6495ED) (RGB: 100, 149, 237)
Bright Cerulean (Crayola Cerulean) (Hex: #02A4D3) (RGB: 2, 164, 211)
Bondi Blue (Crayola Blue-Green) (Hex: #0095B6) (RGB: 0, 149, 182)
Cerulean (Hex: #007BA7) (RGB: 0, 123, 167)
Steel Blue (web color)(Hex: #4682B4) (RGB: 70, 130, 180)
Agate Blue (Hex: #44719B) (RGB: 68, 113, 155)
Medium Persian Blue (Hex: #0067A5) (RGB: 0, 103, 165)
Swedish Azure (color of Swedish flag) (Hex: #005B99) (RGB: 0, 91, 153)
Indigo Dye (Hex: #1A5798) (RGB: 17, 80, 147)
Bright Indigo (Crayola Indigo) (Hex: #4F69C6) (RGB: 79, 105, 198)
Royal Blue (web color) (Hex: #4169E1) (RGB: 65, 105, 225)
Dodger Blue (web color)(Hex: #1E90FF) (RGB: 30, 144, 255)
Azure (Hex: #007FFF) (RGB: 0, 127, 255)
Deep Azure (Crayola Blue) (Hex: #0066FF) (RGB: 0, 102, 255)
BLUE (Hex: #0000FF) (RGB: 0, 0, 255)
Cerulean Blue (Hex: #2A52BE) (RGB: 42, 82, 190)
Denim (Same as Crayola Denim) (Hex: #1560BD) (RGB: 21, 96, 189)
Medium Navy Blue (Crayola Navy Blue) (Hex: #0066CC) (RGB: 0, 102, 204)
Cobalt Blue (Hex: #0047AB) (RGB: 0, 71, 171)
Persian Blue (Hex: #1C39BB) (RGB: 28, 57, 187)
Wikipedia Link Azure (Color of a Wikipedia Link before clicking) (Hex: #002BB8) (RGB: 0, 43, 184)
Medium Blue (web color) (Hex: #0000CD) (RGB: 0, 0, 205)
Dark Blue (web color) (Hex: #0000CB) (RGB: 0, 0, 200)
Indigo (Electric Indigo) (Hex: #6600FF) (RGB: 102, 0, 255)
Medium Slate Blue (web color) (Hex: #7B68EE) (RGB: 123, 104, 138)
Deep Lavender (web color Medium Purple) (Hex: #9370DB) (RGB: 147, 112, 219)
Lavender (Hex: #B57EDC) (RGB: 181, 126, 220)
Deep Indigo (web color Blue-Violet) (Hex: #8A2BE2) (RGB: 138, 43, 226)
Pigment Indigo (web color Indigo) (Hex: #4B0082) (RGB: 75, 0, 130)
Persian Indigo (Hex: #32127A) (RGB: 50, 18, 122)
Dark Azure (Pantone Blue #286) (Hex: #0038A8) (RGB: 0, 56, 186)
International Klein Blue (Hex: #002FA7) (RGB: 0, 47, 167)
Dark Powder Blue (Smalt) (Hex: #003399) (RGB: 0, 51, 153)
Ultramarine (Hex: #120A8F) (RGB: 18, 10, 143)
Navy Blue (web color) (Hex: #000080) (RGB: 0, 0, 128)
Sapphire (Hex: #082567) (RGB: 8, 37, 103)
Midnight Blue (web color) (Hex: #191970) (RGB: 25, 25, 112)
Dark Midnight Blue (Crayola Midnight Blue) (Hex: #003366) (RGB: 0, 51, 102)
Prussian Blue (Berlin Blue) (Hex: #003153) (RGB: 0, 49, 83)
Dark Indigo (Hex: #310062) (RGB: 49, 0, 98)

Inspirations: Trend #2 Old, New

Another great trend is old but new. What the heck does that mean? It means taking something old and making it new.

Here's a great article by Utterly Engaged that reflects exactly what I mean.

You want to do aisle decor, instead of the old, tried kissingballs on chairs, try something new like hanging lemons(as per UE). Instead of candy bars, try a popcorn bar. Instead of the signature drink, how about sodas in assorted colors. Instead of a buffet, do family plated dinner. Instead of a bland over cooked chicken breast with mashed potatoes, do updated roasted pouisson over a potato pancake that Thomas Keller would be proud of. Instead of pink with black, try blush with gunmetal. Instead of fresh flowers in your hair, do a headband(a la Blair Waldorf). Do lipstick instead of gloss. Vintage has been in for so long. Take "old and traditional" a step further next season and do old school proud.



Please visit Utterly Engaged, a new on line magazine for more creative ideas....about ways to update your wedding.

Bottom line: take an old concept, make it new. Make it fresh. Twist it up.

Real Wedding: Wedding of the Year #4

Okay, some of you might have seen this wedding(in Style Me Pretty) featuring Susan and Erich at the uber chic, Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford, California by Wayne Yuan. However, I love it so much that I think it's worth a more in depth look.

I only met with Susan and Erich for 90 minutes. In that one meeting, we planned the entire wedding decor and flowers. Susan was very hands off which I appreciate. Living on the East Coast and planning a wedding must be hard yet these two made it seem easy. I don't think Susan or Erich emailed me more than five times the entire year while they were planning their wedding. Truly, that was it. 5 emails in an entire year. Surely, that's one reason why it's one of my favorite weddings of the year.

Two weeks before the wedding, I got the paint chip and invitation from Susan. Originally the color palette was coral peach and cornflower blue. When I saw the invite, I knew that we had to switch out the coral and switch to a more light pink. The result looks great. Who would have thought that blue and pink could look so romantic? When I hear blue and pink I think baby shower but this is no baby shower. Not at all.

Any the couple looks amazing too. The bride's dress - to die for. The groom's tux - perfect fit. Bow ties - so Chuck Bass! Classy.

How deliciously simple is that cake by Patisserie Angelica. The gals at PA are the best. Their cakes tastes as delicious as they look. The best part is that frosting. Don't you want to put a finger in it and lick it all up?

By the way, I "sneaked" in a few coral hot pink peonies for the cocktail tables. Just shows, one single, amazing flower can be just a beautiful as a dozen so so flowers. Love it when hotels fold napkins. One thing I can't stand are venues that do those tacky birds in the glass. I love the blue napkins folded long wise...so clean. Jessica and Casey at Auberge are so good. The staff is incredible. Look at this table.

I also want to note that the couple made the bands for these napkins as well as the table numbers and so many other things. This is so far from DIY....

Floral Tips: October Flowers

October is a very interesting month. Many of the summer flowers are still in the market but since it is the end of their nature blooming schedule, they are starting to not look as good. Dahlias, garden roses, and sweet peas might be at the end.

What you will see are

Amaryllis - more and more Amaryllis are coming in to the market. These beautiful flowers in peach, red, white with red are stunning on their own. (photo above)

Berzilia - These tiny green berries are fun. I love putting them on boutonnieres and in bouquets.

Calla lilies - extremely tall ones. This week alone I saw some that were 6 ft tall. This is very unusual and I'm really liking them. Only in off white.

Freesia - you will find these lovely flowers in many colors. The bright yellows ones at the flower market are lovely. Since many of the summer flowers are leaving us, it's nice to see that there are still Freesias. One thing of cautious. They are dainty. Very dainty.

Football Mums - in white and yellow, these are great flowers. You will find them throughout the year but this month, they are extremely beautiful and a good replacement for Peonies and large white Dahlias.

Hydrangea - More antique hydrangea are hitting the market. You can find some of the fluffiest ones at Neve Brothers at the SF market.

Nerine - White and pink varieties. They are so unusual and fun. I especially like them coming out of arrangements. Very textural.

Ornamental Peppers - I'm don't usually use them in my design but it does lend a little spicy to some arrangements.
(see above)

Snowberries - you will see them in white and light pink. Great accent flowers
(see above)

Tulips - don't know where they are coming from but I'm seeing an abundance of tulips. You will even find a few parrot. This week alone I saw the white with hint of pink.

Behind the Scenes: From Backyard Chic

I am sure that you are so tired of me talking about the Bride's NorCal magazine photo shoot but I had to write just one more BTS(behind the scenes) story. Then I think that's it. This video captured by Andrew Hsu of MSV is amazing. I love the way he makes everything so romantic. It's so far from my impression of wedding videos.

Take a look for yourself. For more information about this spread, you can go to Style Me Pretty.

Beltane Ranch - Behind the Scenes from andrew msv on Vimeo.

Ask Nancy: Chin Up!

Hi Nancy

Thanks for your honesty and inspiring posts. They are great reads. Not sure if this question is appropriate for your "Ask Nancy" segment. I'll understand if you don't answer this question.

As a wedding professional(I left out what type of wedding vendor he/she is), I've been working hard to establish a good reputation. In general many of clients have been very kind and have posted wonderful reviews on xxxx(I left out the website resource). A while back someone posted a horrible review. Ever since it's gotten me a little down. Do you have any advise on how to combat negative reviews or what to do when someone has misrepresented you? I don't even think the post is legitimate but xxxx(left it out again!) won't remove it.

Down and out in the Midwest(Changed the name so that it is anonymous)

__________________________________

Not sure if I am the best person to answer your question because my initial reaction is to get defensive which for many of us is natural. We've worked hard to get where we are at and when someone "slanders" or "misrepresents" our services in a public forum, it's downright frustrating and often hurtful. And frankly, a bad review can adversely affect a small business. I hear you loud and clear.

However, when the dust settles, I've realized that anyone in this business knows that you cannot please everyone. We are all going to make mistakes. What a vendor thinks is satisfactory may not be what the customer thinks or believes. It's bound to happen to the best of us. (I also admit that I'm no stranger to hurtful, negative critiques. )

We've got to decide for ourselves what the best action is and sometimes an apology is in order. Other times, to learn but not to attack the critical party is key. In very rare instances, if something is completely damaging and slanderous, a business owner can always take a tougher stance.

Through the wisdom of people in the business that I respect including the very wise, Sonya Hong of Butterfly Cakes and my husband, Kevin Chin, I believe that at times, you have to ignore these public criticisms and find a way to improve your customer service and products so that future instances can be avoided.

If a review is genuinely accurate and what you were accused of has some merit, I think the only thing to do is to learn from it. Hear what the critic is saying without taking personal offense.

If a potential client thinks you are unresponsive, instead of trying to change their mind, learn from this as well. Perhaps your customer service isn't what you perceive it to be.

If a client thought you didn't do a good job on their wedding, then reach out and try to find a way to repair the damage.

No matter what, keep your promise, stand for integrity. If you screwed up, own up to it.

If a client just didn't like you, don't beat yourself up. I know this is easier sad then down but remember it's business.

If a potential client exaggerated a comment or twisted a situation to make your business look bad, you obviously can try to reach out to them to explain your side. In fact, in yelp.com, a business owner can rebuttal. However, if you want these resources to remove a negative review, it's possible if you have grounds for slander or you can prove that the review is not legitimate. More importantly, if you have negative, try to combat it with more positive reviews from your clients who are truly happy. I'm sure they will go to bat for you.

Bottom line: If at all possible, try to turn the negativity to a learning experience for your business. If possible, do not dwell on negative criticism for too long. Move on. Don't be so sad, Chin Up!

Make your customer service, products, wedding services live up to your standards. Say sorry if you really did something wrong. Own up to mistakes.

Real Wedding: Wedding of the Year #3

For your consideration, Wedding of the Year #3 featuring Aqua, Pool, Marine blues with white and chocolate brown accent. The bride and groom, Carmen and Vincent, were just terrific throughout the entire planning process.

The key words were - Modern, Contemporary, Fun, Relaxed, Playful, Simple, Elegant
Components in the design that were imported included Lanterns, dainty Blossoms, Water, Blue Soda, Parasols, Round

Photography by the talented Ellen Ho who came down from Vancouver to cover this wedding.

A few of my favorite photos

Lanterns in a cluster, hanging balls down the aisle. All in blue. This was a first for me since I've never bought "aqua" flowers yet it works. Even in the heat, these carnation balls survived.




This collage featured the amazing reception decor. A long table is filled with flowers and candles in beautiful glass cylinders. One of my favorite orchids, the white Phalenopsis looks amazing in this image. Ellen, you really know how to capture the details.
It was such a hot day and it felt like 100 degrees but the bridal party managed to look like it was just another normal day out in the sunshine.

Blossom details in the placecards, white blossom on an aqua cake by Carolyn Wong are just a few of my favorite things.

The Solage Pool is a perfect backdrop of these dramatic image but all I can think about is that I want to jump in.

Just Married.

Inspirations: Trend #1 - Pool and Lemon

The 2009 year isn't even over and we are already starting to work on some 2010 weddings. I've decided to share my top 5 trends for 2010.

First up - Color

When I worked in retail merchandising, every season we would have these large color & mood meetings. As the merchants and fashion directors would offer their picks for the upcoming season, I couldn't help but notice that almost every color palette was represented in some way. Though almost every color palette was represented every season on the mood boards, each season the hue would change gradually. One year crimson was the ideal red, the next season it was raspberry, and then followed by fire engine red. If sage was happening one year, the next might be hunter, and then suddenly it's seafoam. Year after year, season after season, I would make my notes and look at the subtle differences not knowing if I was wearing the right "hue" of a color. Having gone through many years of color/mood meetings I think I'm getting better at finding the trends(though secretly, I wear what I want regardless of the trends).

With that being said, I really see for spring and summer a fresh hue of blue - like Pool. I call it Blue Topaz but since most people don't know what color Blue Topaz is, I think Pool is a better description for the blue I'm referring to. Paired with Bright Sunny Lemon, it's fresh, vibrant, quirky, and fun. This is not only a new way to see yellow but it's a nice refreshing option for brides.

Look for another inspiration board featuring midnight hues which is a great shade of blue for fall and winter weddings.

Today, I leave you with this Pool and Lemon board courtest of Style Me Pretty. The new style circle tools are amazing!!!

Credits: Lisa Franchot, Dollface Studio, Erin Hearts Court (2), West Park Photography (2), Penny Silvia

Real wedding; Wedding of the Year #2

Wedding #2 that is also a FAV wedding of the year features soft pinks, creams, and white whites. Details including this lovely invitation printed on a handkerchief and mailboxes are just a few that the bride, Lindsey incorporated in her San Francisco Wedding.

Wedding planner, Alice Grisez of Grisez & Co. did a fabulous job of recreating this classic, almost Gatsby vintage glam wedding. Flowers included garden roses from David Austen, hydrangea, carnations, peonies, imported South American roses, stock, and dinner plate dahlias in 'Cafe au Lait'. Everything is spotless, perfect, flawless.

The wonderful Chenin Boutwell captured the day. What an artist. This wedding might look familiar because I've written about Lindsey the bride in past posts but it's been featured on Style Me Pretty, which is one of my favorite blogs!!!!



This placecard design was made with a flat styrofoam board with white carnations attached to picks inserted. A labor of love, my intern, Joyce spent a whole day making this.

One of the most difficult element about this wedding was submerging the flowers. Finally after 6 or 7 attempts, my designers, Gaby and Allison told me to use a silver wire. I was so nervous because the bride wanted everything to be white. I couldn't make up mine mind if the silver was too modern. In the end, function won. At the bottom of the glass(which no one can see) is a 2 pound weight that I purchased at the local hardware store.

Recently, someone asked me about hydrangea bouquets. These were fabulous. Of course, I mothered them and kept them in water. Sometimes, a bouquet has to be in water until the processional. These were in shade and away from any sunlight. I think that's why they still look amazing after the ceremony.


Thank you to Chenin Boutwell of Boutwell Studio for these images and read more about the love story of Lindsey and Chris at Style Me Pretty.



Who can forget the view from the Fairmont's Crown Room! To die for!! Without images, there is no story telling.

Bottom line: the flowers may died but the images will live on!!! A talented professional wedding photographer is a must.

Inspirations: Backyard is the New Ballroom

Really proud of this photo shoot. There are so many people to thank but let me just say a big "Thank you" to Gloria Wong and Lisa Lefkowitz who got me involved. And of course all the wonderful people at Conde Nast.